Checking out options for next year’s application cycle, California resident – and I’m floored to see that UC Merced COA is over 43k/ year. Room/Board is over 21k. That feels so surprising to me. My (other) kid this year had an offer from Cal Poly SLO and room and board was like 16k, leaving a COA of 33k or so. I’m SO confused – wouldn’t Merced cost of living (room/board) be pretty inexpensive? I sort of thought UC M might be a great, less expensive, option for my engineering kid. Am I missing something? I guess I hoped it would be a less expensive option for our list. With merit out there, it seems quite possible that UC Merced might be one of the more expensive options.
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Unfortunately, you aren’t missing anything. In-state prices for UCs are around 41-43k. Cal States run around 30k. The list I have for my D25 has many private schools that are cheaper than UCs.
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I have only really considered UCLA/Cal/UCSD/UCSB for my kids so far, and it has always made sense to me that the room/board costs were so high because of the high-rent locations. I guess I was floored by the 21k/year cost of UC Merced housing. I have one daughter headed to USC, which of course is private and notoriously a fortune, and UC Merced housing cost is not far behind theirs!
So I don’t begrudge 21k for housing in a high-cost district – but 21k to live in the middle of nowhere seems like an unappealing deal. If a top student is willing to join UC Merced in the early years when campus is still not fully built out, one would think that at least they would enjoy the price break of living in a location less desirable than Santa Barbara or La Jolla.
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I think your asking why UC Merced costs 21k to live on campus for a year, vs something like CSU Long Beach at 16k. Is there really something about the UC Merced residential experience that warrants the additional costs?
I don’t ever remember seeing a school with the variance as high as 21,446 to live on campus, and 13,000 to live off campus. Most students seem to think it’s cheaper off campus, but that delta is extreme.
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All the UC’s housing costs all seemed inline with each other. I do not have an issue with the cost being what it is, they also offered the best aid package(with the exception of UC Berkeley) the issue I/my daughter had was with what the school offered outside of academics. We felt UC Merced offered an amazing education, with much more access to resources than all the other UC schools. Yet, it felt like the school is not accepting the fact that it is in the middle of no where. They need to do something to attract the top students and make them want to come to UC Merced. They need like the best cafeteria food in the system, on campus movie theater, the best student recreation center and swimming pools, a football team. Stuff that raises the school spirit and desirability for the students.
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UCSD only guarantees on campus housing for 2 years meaning moving off campus to pricey area and/or access to car and associated costs (gas)
Correct. (Not sure if you were asking that or stating that, but in any case, yes that is correct.). :).
I was just stating, didnt know if you were aware.
Make sure that you don’t just look at the bottom line. While UCM lists on campus vs off campus vs living at home, SLO only compares on campus to living at home.
Tuition and fees has SLO $1959 cheaper than UCM
Books & Materials/Supplies has SLO $73 more expensive than UCM
On Campus Housing & Food has SLO as $3220 cheaper than UCM
Misc expenses has SLO $329 cheaper than UCM
Transportation has SLO $206 more expensive than UCM
Loan fees has SLO $20 more expensive than UCM
Most importantly, SLO’s bottom line does not include health insurance, where UCM’s bottom line includes $2662 for health insurance
There are a variety of meal plans offered at different prices. Look at what UCM offers and what your child might use. I didn’t look into what meal plan is included in the COA calculation.
Note that UCM adds approximately $1500 in transportation if a student is living off campus. To me, that sounds like off campus housing is a decent distance from campus.
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